What Do Peptides Do for Our Skin?

Frieda Y. Lin is an independent consultant with TruAura, a pre- and probiotic-based, microbiome-friendly skincare company. Contact her at frieda_lin@hotmail.com or call 561-578-7109. For more information, visit TruAuraBeauty.com/friedalin or call 561-578-7109.

If you’re like most of the population, signs of aging may have already set in. You may be seeing early signs of wrinkles around the eyes or dark spots and be wondering, is it too late?

The answer is no. It’s not too late—with the advancement in skin care development, there are new generations of ingredients that can effectively address the signs of aging. And the number one way to reduce the signs of aging—naturally, at least—is to encourage your skin’s production of collagen.

That’s where peptides skin care comes into play. Turns out, applying natural peptides for skin topically can help increase your body’s production of peptides for skin. While collagen molecules are too large to penetrate the skin, peptides are small enough to penetrate the skin, and when applied topically, they signal the skin to repair itself. In response to these signals, your skin will boost its production of collagen.

Collagen and the aging process

Collagen lies beneath the epidermis (outer layer of your skin) in what’s known as the “dermis,” a layer made of nerves, blood vessels, fats, elastin, and lots of collagen. In fact, collagen makes up about 80 percent of our dermis. It helps our skin look firm and smooth, cultivating that youthful, radiant glow we all strive for. When we’re young, we produce collagen at a very high rate.

However, by age 20, that rate begins to slow down, and by age 40, stops entirely! In addition, our existing collagen begins to break down. The most prominent reason for the breakdown is aging that’s out of our control. However, there are behavioral and environmental reasons our collagen might break down—and these are things we can control. Exposure to UV radiation—whether that be a result of tanning beds or sun exposure—can break down collagen. Smoking can also lead to its deterioration.

Triggering collagen production in the skin

As mentioned earlier, the skin’s natural production of collagen stops around the age of 40. The only time that they will continue to produce collagen is in the event of skin injury OR perceived skin injury.

In the early 1990s, alpha hydroxy acids were introduced for their ability to dissolve the “glue” that holds the top layer of the dead skin cells, thus creating microscopic “irritation,” causing the surface layers of the skin to dry and slough off. This microscopic “irritation” triggers the natural production of peptides in the body, telling the body that the skin has been damaged and to wake up the collagen production and send collagen and elastin to the affected area to heal the source of irritation.

Since then, more aggressive forms of “repair” treatments also emerged focused on creating microscopic damage to the skin to stimulate the production of collagen and elastin:

Peptides, which were introduced to the market in the late 1990s, represented a new generation of skin reparative compounds. It’s effective, and non-irritating!

By using amino acids naturally found in the body, peptides were created. When applied topically, the peptide would penetrate the skin, tricking the body into thinking that it has been damaged, thus triggering the production of collagen and elastin.

The moral of the story: peptides = proteins like collagen = anti-aging defense. Without peptides, there’s no collagen, and without collagen, there’s no defense against aging.